Courtesy of The CW
Week three of Arrow – which has officially been picked up for the season (huzzah!) – introduces a master assassin named Deadshot, aka Floyd Lawton (Michael Rowe). Does the suitably named killer hit the mark?
Let’s bitch it out…Thus far I have nothing but praise for Arrow. I can’t help feeling cynical as I wait for the quality to drop each week, but the show has yet to disappoint. Not every storyline is firing on all cylinders, but overall the show has a pulpy, thrill-ride feel with just enough emotional/character-driven pieces to satisfy. The show is an easy choice for the “winners” column for the Fall television season.
‘Lone Gunman’ subtly advances our overall narrative arc in several capacities: Oliver (Stephen Arnell) learns that Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and Tommy (Colin Donnell) have been sleeping together; mom Moira (Susanna Thompson) makes in-roads with troubled daughter Thea (Willa Holland – echoing her wild child role from The O.C.) and, following what appears to be the death of Deadshot, Ollie’s bodyguard Diggle (David Ramsey) becomes the first character on the show to learn the true identity of Arrow.
Of all of the developments, I hope the last one sticks: not only is it unreasonable to expect a smart man like Diggle not to figure out there’s more to Oliver than meets the eye, but I hate it when shows try to explain things away because characters were delirious (in this case, from poisoned bullets). The show can only become more interesting by pushing forward- putting Diggle back into oblivious mode doesn’t benefit anyone.
Courtesy of The CW
Other Observations:
- The other significant development is the introduction of tech support hottie Felicia (Emily Bett Rickards). She’s attractive and has a nice banter with Ollie, which means she should stick around to do the work he shouldn’t need to do. Since he seems to know how to do everything else (including identify poisoned gun shells using alchemy straight out of women’s sanitary napkin commercials)
- Another week, another scumbag criminal name crossed off the list: this week it’s the man responsible for low income housing prone to fires in the poor part of the city called The Glades. I’m all for a loose narrative, but at some point I’m going to need a bigger arc or overarching mystery to work with. When will we learn more about Moira and husband Walter’s (Colin Salmon) evil corporate plans? Or do you think Walter is unaware of his wife’s activities?
- The island flashbacks reveal that the shooter is a crazy Japanese man who speaks French and warns Oliver that other men will try to kill him. Should we assume these men in black are mama’s goons, sent to kill daddy dearest?
- While I applaud the show for consistency, watching Thea talk smack about her brother and because she’s acting like a spoiled little b*tch each week is going to get old real quick. This is the trickiest kind of character to keep interesting because she’s at a challenging age to do something with. In the Green Arrow storyline she SPOILERS becomes Arrow’s teen sidekick, which could be a little dicey. I’d rather see Laurel turn into Black Canary END SPOILERS
- Ollie’s Russian name is Bratva. Sure…why not?
- Visual feat of the week: Oliver free climbing the side of the building
- Stephen Arnell looks good in many things (including a pre-credit shirtless workout), but he looks surprisingly pedophil-ish in a baseball cap. Good thing the bar he wants to open is for adults since the court order requires him to stay 50 yards away from children
- Finally, does anyone care to learn more about Diggle’s brother, who was apparently killed in the same line of work? Not I, said the reviewer
Best Lines
- Diggle (after Oliver bailed on him during dinner): “I guess from now on I’ll be watching you pee.”
- Lancel (when Oliver asks how she knows to beat guys up): “Cop dad, remember? He made me take lessons”
- Felicity (examining Deadshot’s computer): “These look like bullet holes.” Oliver: “My coffee shop is in a bad neighbour.”
And that’s our third week. How are you feeling about Arrow now that it will be settling in for the season? Do you think Deadshot is actually dead? Do you want Diggle to be in on Ollie’s secret? Care about Thea’s recovery? And how much fun is Felicia and Ollie’s banter? Hit the comments below with your thoughts.
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8pm EST on The CW
For now, Arrow doesn’t disappoint. I like how the story is going. We see Ollie fight one bad guy after another and get only a glances of what happened on the island. Rest is for season finale, I presume.
I don’t like Thea being a spoiled b*tch, they should give her something else to do.
Some notes on the review:
* Ollie didn’t find out that Laurel and Tommy are sleeping together in this episode. He saw them together in the pilot.
* Bratva isn’t Ollie’s Russian name it’s Russian mafia (bratva means brotherhood). They said he is Bratva captain. We’ll see is that some trick or in his five years on island made him to work for them.